Saku Koivu made it clear how much he wanted to return to the Ducks. All he needed to hear was that he was wanted back.

The club made it happen Wednesday, re-signing the veteran center to a one-year contract with a $3 million base salary and also includes some bonuses, one of which includes games played. Both sides wanted to continue the relationship after Koivu finished up a two-year contract worth $2.5 million for each season.

Koivu, 37, has spent the last three seasons with the club after playing his first 13 in Montreal, most of which was spent as the Canadiens’ captain. He had 11 goals and 27 assists in 74 games with the Ducks last season.

“I’m really, really happy about it,” Koivu said. “It’s a good thing that and a positive thing that we got it done at this point. I don’t have to worry about it and think about what’s going to happen for next year.”

Koivu will make more in the coming season even though his point total has trended downward over his time with the Ducks as his 38 points are his fewest in a full NHL season. But the club values his two-way play, penalty killing and faceoff abilities, where he led the team at 52.4 percent.

“Character and leadership on and off the ice,” Ducks GM Bob Murray said. “You can never have enough of that. Things didn’t go well this year. He’s a veteran who really believes it can work here and wants it to work here.

“He had an opportunity this year to jump ship and he didn’t want to. He wanted to stay and make it work. That’s a quality character guy. We need more of that.”

Not only did Koivu pass up a chance at free agency but he also reaffirmed his belief that that Ducks can become a playoff team next season and eschewed the opportunity to seek out a team that’s closer to Stanley Cup contention. A meeting with Murray earlier this week left him optimistic.

“Talking with Bob and hearing his thoughts and his plan and then also getting very positive messages from the ownership, I’m confident that they’re going to make a push,” Koivu said. “We basically have the core group of young players. The future looks bright.

“Obviously it’s tough to say at this point when we missed the playoffs this year. If I didn’t feel confident and strongly about their view and [what] they’re willing to do to make the push, then I would have looked for somewhere else. But it was very clear they want to get a team to make the playoffs and make a push in the springtime.”

The Ducks do want more offense from the position and it’s believed that they may address that either through free agency or via trade and slide Koivu down to the third line. Murray didn’t sound too concerned about his diminishing offensive numbers, emphasizing the attributes that the center does bring.

“It’s about way more than that,” Murray said. “Everybody talks about first, second and third line. We’ve got to get to a point where we have three good lines. It doesn’t matter what the one, two and three is. If anybody’s watching playoff games, it’s not the No. 1 line that wins every freaking game in the playoffs. A lot of times it’s the other guys.

“We’ve got to get to that point. So I don’t know where he’s going to fit in that mix. We’ll see where that mix fits. He’s definitely in the top nine forwards on any team in the league. That’s all I need to know.”

Murray said that the two did not specifically discuss his role as the second-line center going forward.

“He’s a very intelligent hockey person,” he said. “There’s no doubt about that. So our talks are very informative and interesting, I think, on both sides. He knows what it takes to win. And he desperately wants to win. Saku will do whatever it takes to win and that’s all that’s important.”

The Ducks now have 15 players under contract and $44 million committed to the salary cap, according to capgeek.com. It leaves them with $20 million under the cap, though that figure is expected to change as the league and players’ union negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement.

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